Dublin-born, Brooklyn-based photographer Rich Gilligan balances commercial and portraiture work alongside documentary-like, naturalistic projects shaped by his passions.

Gilligan has captured an array of well-known Irish figures through his unique lens, including Cillian Murphy, Saoirse Ronan, Gabriel Byrne and award-winning musician Conor O’Brien of Villagers.

Having spent his teenage years in the tight-knit skateboarding community in Dublin, photographing the raw and fearless action of skaters on camera sparked his interest in the visual, Gilligan then went on to study at the University of Wales and the University of Ulster.

With an insatiable interest in documenting subcultures, Gilligan spent four years on his project DIY, travelling to makeshift guerilla skateparks around the world. Across urban landscapes like Derry in Northern Ireland, Portland, Oregon and Nantes in France, he captured the skating community’s drive and daring as they constructed illegally-built skating areas, homemade skate bowls and ramps by bustling motorway underpasses.